LEDYARD — There was once a quarterback at Stonington High School named Colin Clancy. All he did was set career records for the Bears in touchdowns (39) and passing yards (3,700) under the guidance of then-Bears coach Jim Buonocore. In 2002, Clancy led Stonington to the state playoffs as a sophomore.

If you can see some similarities developing here with current Ledyard quarterback Ty Ebdon, that’s fine with him, because Clancy went on to play Division I football at Temple University, where he now serves as a graduate assistant coach. It’s a destiny Ebdon might not mind seeing repeated.

Buonocore cast aside Ledyard’s more conservative offense this season specifically because of the gifts that Ebdon brings to the table. Buonocore knew that he couldn’t waste those by having the sophomore “turning around and handing off the ball 35 times” in a game.

So, Buonocore put the offense in the youngster’s hands and if he ever questioned his faith in that decision, the doubts went away in Ledyard’s win over New London in Week 4. On the fourth play of the game, Buonocore called for a screen pass, but Ebdon saw something better, pump-faked, and threw a fade down the sideline to Joe Carter — who was single-covered — and the corner had no help coming over the top.

“I was standing there going, ‘Wow, good for (Ebdon),’” Buonocore said.

Gaudy numbers

There were plenty of those moments this year. Ebdon has 29 touchdown passes this season, believed to be an Eastern Connecticut Conference record, according to The Bulletin records. His 29 touchdowns are one better than the 28 thrown by former New London quarterback and now-Washington Redskins tight end Jordan Reed in 2007. It’s also just three shy of making it into the Connecticut High School Record book, where Rob Fleeting of Windsor and Matt Milano of New Canaan each threw for 32 in 2011 and ‘12, respectively.

The ECC career record is held by Reed, who finished with 62 touchdown passes, 19th best on the all-time state list behind former New London and Masuk quarterback — and now UConn starter — Casey Cochran, who finished with 112 in his high school career.

The sophomore passed for 2,056 yards and completed 63 percent of his passes (93-147) according to statistics compiled by The Bulletin. It’s a year that Ebdon said he never saw coming especially after a scrimmage against East Lyme that didn’t go so well. It took a four-touchdown, 310-yard performance against Bacon Academy in Week 2 to make him feel in command.

Page 2 of 2 - “I’m tremendously impressed, he’s had an awesome year,” Ledyard senior receiver Jordan Kowalski said. “Being a sophomore, those numbers are just crazy. I’ve grown up with him my entire life. He’s my neighbor, we’ve been throwing the ball since he was five years old and now it’s crazy that we’re doing it out here and have done it all season.”

Kowalski has been on the receiving end of 36 of those passes, the most on the team, mainly because he is not the downfield receiver like a Khary Childs (27 catches for 691 yards) or a Carter (9-282 yards) but rather sits in the slot and gathers in many of the short, high-percentage throws that Ledyard has in its arsenal to open the deep routes.

There are some improvements to make.

Gunslinger

Buonocore calls the sophomore a “gunslinger.” His arm angle tends to slide toward sidearm rather than over the top and that has caused him troubles: a Waterford defensive lineman elevated enough to pick off one of Ebdon’s passes at the line of scrimmage in the 10th game of the season.

Last year, he began working in the offseason with quarterback coach Travis Meyer and former Ledyard quarterback J.J. Jablonski, both of whom tried to get him to throw over the top more.

“There’s going to be a lot bigger kids that I face later on and I won’t be able to throw sidearm. I’m going to have to get it up and over them. That’s what they’re trying to teach me,” Ebdon said.

That can be worked on, but what Buonocore has seen so far, compares favorably to what he coached a decade ago.

“Colin was a little more polished earlier in terms of fundamentals and technique, but in terms of arm strength, I think Ty, at this point, has a little stronger arm than Colin did his sophomore season,” Buonocore said. “Ty is a football player, first and foremost. He’s not just a quarterback. He loves the game, loves to compete and the sky is certainly the limit in terms of what he can accomplish beyond high school football.”

“The biggest dream I have right now is becoming a Division I quarterback. That’s what I’m looking forward to in life, that’s what my goals are set to,” Ebdon said. “I have good grades in school. If sports don’t work out, grades will have my back, but I would love to be a Division I or any division, Division II, Division III. I just want to play football in college.”